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A key change at iCommons
If you're not part of the iCommons mailing list, take a look at the letter that Heather Ford, Executive Director of iCommons, sent to the list yesterday:
Dear friends,
At the 2 August iCommons Board Meeting, the board decided to make some difficult but necessary changes at iCommons. It has become clear over the past months that our vision for iCommons is different from the... more
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Recalling the Spirit of the FOSS Movement
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| Embrace the Spirit of FOSS, by fouad bajwa |
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Software engineering and coding is an interesting profession especially when you get to be part of a global revoluation, more of a movement as it takes various forms regionally and globally becomes an Ecosystem that helps humanity benefit at large. Yes, I am referring to the FOSS movement and now after becomming a member of the iCommons community, I would like to share and relate inspirations from this movement.
It was only last year during February in Nairobi during the FOSSFA-IDLELO2 Conference on the African Digital Commons that I shared these perspectives known collectively as the "Spirit of the FOSS Movement". I would like to share the Spirit here and would also encourage everyone to pass on this message.
The intention of this contribution is to focus on the underlying human motivation for developing social or community oriented software for human benefit at large. The common motivation is a result of the fact that:
• We all want to make a positive difference to the people in the world around us. They can belong anywhere from the ‘developed’ or from the ‘developing’ world irrespective of age, colour, race, religion, ethnicity or economic status.
• Our motivation to develop such software comes from the inner urge on how we can add rather than subtract to the spirit of life.
• Since we have the knowledge and resources to do so, and that leaders of the movement have made resources available globally, we can utilise this power to change the world around us through software, built under the umbrella of Open Standards and FOSS.
• We are all well aware of this ability and, thus, we will never underestimate or neglect this power of software development, sharing that we have acquired through the contributions and struggle of many heroes of the FOSS movement.
• We will always nurture it and help others benefit from the true spirit of the FOSS movement. It’s our choice regarding what software we should use!
These perspectives strengthen the understanding that FOSS is a result of freedom and we have a choice for adopting software for every situation in our life without restrictions, and that choice should be supported with the fact that whenever we want and whenever we feel it necessary to make changes or modifications, we should have access to its source code.
We should be free to choose software just like our actions and attitudes. With knowledge and zeal to achieve the unachievable, by developing and sharing knowledge for the benefit of humanity, the FOSS movement will continue to disrupt the dictatorship of the norms and progress towards an information society that embodies the principles of sharing and openness.
This is just the beginning, I invite all readers to join in and share their perspectives as motivational quotes that can then be integrated into the Spirit of the FOSS Movement as perspectives. Your motivations in dedication to FOSS, Openness and Sharing can be personal, from a group, in the form of a collective or as an organization. Whatever the form may be, it is a perspective that inspires others and lets them know that there are more people out there who share the same motivations as themselves.
tags: international culture foss movement sharing commons spirit of advocacy
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